A Family's Gift
by CessieRose25
Summary: Nine months after the events of How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse, Hiccup and Astrid are expecting their first child as the uplifting holiday approaches. But when Kyra sends Heather with a message asking for help from the Meathead Tribe about Windwalker, this holiday promises to bring more than a few unexpected surprises for the Haddock and Godrikson families.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: A New Holiday Begins**

_This is Berk. I'm not gonna go into too much detail about this place as you've probably heard most of it from Hiccup and Toothless. Anyway, this is the place with the six month winter, including Devastating Winter, with the one thing to look forward to during this time being Snoggletog – our annual holiday. Trust me, even I still don't know why such a stupid name was chosen but to be quite frank, I can't be bothered to ask about it._

"Hiccup!" a young woman called from a large cooking pot. She was an attractive young lady with bright blonde hair that hung in a plait by the side of her round face. Her storm blue eyes were the type that were beautiful to see when she was happy but the last thing anyone wanted to look at when she was angry. She was wearing a blue woollen tunic with red decoration at the hem, sleeves and a red leather belt, dark blue leggings and bear skin boots. "Are you getting up anytime soon? Toothless is threatening to cave the roof in again!" Her statement was followed by a loud _THUD_ from the roof as the one-tailed Night Fury started his usual routine of jumping up and down to get his rider's attention.

_That's me cooking, by the way – Astrid Horrendous Haddock I. Don't worry – I've improved my cooking skills since I was fourteen and I'm pretty sure no one's gonna get poisoned or anything now! It's been about nine months since I got married and, I have to admit it, I couldn't really be happier._

_BANG!_

"HICCUP!" Astrid yelled before wincing, doubling over as she felt something move inside her. Astrid was heavily pregnant with her first child and the baby was due to be born the next month. She wasn't sure on whether it was a boy or a girl but she had a few names in her head that she felt would suit it. At any rate, her yell combined with Toothless' incessant bouncing on the roof that woke up the person upstairs. Groggily a young man came walking down the stairs – he sported a prosthetic leg that was a lot more advanced than the peg legs other Vikings usually used and he was a couple of inches taller than his wife. He had messy dark auburn hair that was clearly not familiar with a comb and forest green eyes which glinted with an idea no matter what mood the guy was in. He was wearing leather armour of some kind with a dark green wool under-tunic, dark khaki leggings and one black leather boot on his remaining right foot.

"Alright! Alright – I'm coming," he yawned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and grabbing what appeared to be a leather riding mask.

_That's Hiccup – my husband and heir to the Hairy Hooligan tribe of Berk. I think it's safe to say he's not much of a morning person._

"It's about time – Toothless has been jumping on the roof for the past ten minutes," Astrid smirked, spooning out a bowlful of porridge. "Hungry?" Hiccup smiled and accepted the bowl, sniffing it cautiously whilst Astrid wasn't looking. Despite the improvements made in her cooking, he still had to be careful.

"You should've gotten me to do this," he grinned. "You need your rest..."

"Well, you were up late helping your dad yesterday," Astrid shrugged. "If it weren't for Toothless I would've let you sleep in."

"And _how_ much have you eaten?" Hiccup asked in surprise, ignoring Astrid's statement and spotting the half empty pot of porridge. It was big enough to fit enough food to feed an entire family but Astrid had already gotten through most of it.

"Seems to be the only way to keep the little guy calm," Astrid explained, patting her stomach. "OUCH!" she yelped as the baby nudged her again.

"You okay?" Hiccup grimaced. Astrid nodded and sat down, the effort of cooking and carrying the baby around exhausting her. Astrid had been more tired than usual since discovering her pregnancy and she'd shown all the symptoms – morning sickness, cravings (for some reason it was for parsnips – because of that Hiccup's older sister, Kyra, had stopped coming over for dinner before she got married herself. She hated vegetables)...you name it, Astrid had it.

"He's just a strong kicker, that's all," she groaned. Hiccup moved over and knelt down by his wife – it was strange calling her that even after all this time. Hiccup's relationship with Astrid had never been the smoothest one – before he'd discovered the truth about dragons she'd pretended that he didn't even exist despite liking him herself (she admitted this fact a lot later) and even when she'd begun to return his feelings and their relationship became official they still had the occasional argument and Astrid did have a habit of punching Hiccup when it pleased her. It had been when Hiccup had randomly let his true feelings slip in the middle of a battle with the Outcasts that Astrid had asked his father, Chief Stoick the Vast, to handfast them, ready to marry when they reached the age of sixteen.

That, however, hadn't happened as six months later during the engagement party organised by Kyra, Hiccup had been hit by a dragon's curse that transformed him into a half-dragon (the transformation wasn't complete due to Toothless firing a counter-jinx to prevent Hiccup from turning into a dragon completely). He'd been stuck like that for three years before finally deciding to take things into his own hands and returning to Berk where he regained his humanity with the help of Kyra and the others and also defeated the dragons behind his stint as a Halfling. It had been the spring after that adventure that Hiccup and Astrid were finally made husband and wife.

"What's it now? About a month to go?" Hiccup asked gently. Astrid was too exhausted to make a witty comeback.

"I dunno..." she panted. "The way he's kicking, I can't tell if it's gonna be a month or a couple of weeks...OW!" she cried, wincing painfully. Hiccup gently comforted her and patted the bump carefully – instantly Astrid calmed down and things seemed to settle. "I think he likes you being around," Astrid smiled. Hiccup smiled back before turning his gaze to the bump.

"I know you're eager to get out," he whispered gently. "Just go a little easier on your mother for me, okay?" _BANG!_ "At least while I'm out," Hiccup finished, wincing as a piece of roof slate fell onto the table. "I'll fix that when I get back," he noted, standing up and helping Astrid to her feet. Walking outside, the couple admired the view for a moment. Berk was surprisingly beautiful when it was covered in snow the way it was – at this time of the year, the sun was still rising and setting so despite the shorter days the sky could still be a stunning blue for the small amount of daylight hours there were.

The moment was ruined when Hiccup's dragon, Toothless, barged in and nuzzled his rider in the side.

"Okay, buddy – I'm coming," Hiccup grinned, scratching his best friend behind the ear where he liked it best. "We'll go flying now," he added, mounting the black dragon and slotting his prosthetic foot into the modified stirrup. He turned to face Astrid who was standing by the door with her own dragon, a blue and yellow Deadly Nadder called Stormfly. "Tell Dad I'll be back in time to help out with those negotiations," he asked.

"I will," Astrid promised, leaning slightly on Stormfly's flank for support. "Just get back before lunch, will ya? Last time the stew burned and that wasn't because of my cooking skills!" she pointed out before Hiccup could protest. Even so he promised not to take too long before heading into the sky on Toothless. Astrid watched wistfully after them – she hadn't been able to go flying for months because of her pregnancy and she couldn't wait to get back into the skies with Stormfly. Once Hiccup and Toothless were out of sight, Astrid decided to take a walk down into the village where everyone was preparing for Snoggletog.

The wooden pine tree had been set up in the middle of the plaza, shields and wreaths were decorating every doorway and shop stand Astrid could see and Vikings were scurrying everywhere to get presents hidden. People were also preparing to say goodbye to their dragons for the holiday – Snoggletog was the time that dragons went off to have families of their own. Stormfly had had a litter the previous year and so would be one of the few who were staying but Astrid knew that it was a hard time for those whose bonds with their dragons were strong, especially in the Defenders of Berk team that she herself was part of.

"Mornin', Astrid!" a Viking with a missing left hand and right leg greeted from a store which served both as the weapons' forge and a dragon dentist. The Viking in charge was Gobber the Belch, the mentor of the Defenders of Berk. Astrid waved back and walked over.

"Morning, Gobber," she greeted back. "Busy day?"

"Just the usual assortment of present orders," Gobber shrugged. "Shields, hammers – you know, the normal." Astrid snorted slightly – her mentor and his sense of humour. "How's the little one doing?" Gobber asked. Right on cue, the baby growing inside Astrid gave a gentle kick – hard enough so that its mother would notice but soft enough so that Astrid only needed to grit her teeth. "Still kicking, I see?"

"Clearly," Astrid replied sarcastically. "Not too long though," she smiled.

"I'm sure he'll be a fine young lad," Gobber chuckled.

"I don't even know if it's gonna be a boy, Gobber!" Astrid protested.

"Or a fine young lass, either one!" the aging Viking retorted. "Either way, the Haddock clan will have gained a great new member," he joked, hammering a blade into shape. Astrid heard a call from the plaza so she bid Gobber farewell and headed over to a group of Vikings around her age – the Defenders of Berk.

"And there's the Mom-to-be!" Ruffnut Thorston cheered. Her twin brother, Tuffnut, joined in the mock applause. Astrid gave them her death glare.

"Oh, yeah, Ruff? Wait till you have to carry around a six pound baby twenty-four-seven," she huffed.

"Not gonna happen," Ruffnut bit back smugly.

"Will so. Your wedding's next fall last time I heard."

That shut Ruffnut up. Fishlegs Ingerman, the walking dragon encyclopaedia of the gang, stepped in.

"You doing alright, Astrid?" he asked nervously. "And how's he...she...it doing?"

"I'm fine – baby's still...YEOW...kicking," Astrid winced. "Okay, I lied – baby's more than fine. I just so happen to be his favourite punch-bag."

"How do you know it's gonna be a boy?" Snotlout Jorgenson, Hiccup's cousin and a boy who once had a massive crush on Astrid, smirked. Astrid glared at him.

"I don't – I'm being generic, okay?" she snarled cynically.

"Besides, you're kinda the little guy's _only_ punch-bag right now," Tuffnut snickered. Astrid clobbered him round the face. "OW! I AM HURT! I AM VERY MUCH HURT!"

"Will you quit saying that? You didn't even bleed," Ruffnut stared at him. Astrid shook her head before another call came, this time from a non-resident of Berk.

"Hey, Astrid!" It was Heather, a good friend and honorary member of the Defenders of Berk who had married the year before Hiccup and Astrid and often made visits to Berk to get away from what she saw as the stresses of married life (needless to say she was a bit jealous of Hiccup and Astrid in that department). The dark-haired young woman jogged over clutching a bundle of something in her arms.

"Heather!" Astrid greeted, giving her friend a gentle hug. It was only when Heather was close did Astrid see what the bundle was. "Oh, my gods! She is adorable!" Astrid couldn't help but coo as she saw the tiny face peeking out from the skins and furs. Heather had had her daughter merely a few months ago but she was keen to get the kid well-travelled and familiar with the other islands in the Barbaric Archipelago as quickly as possible.

"She's been keeping me and Magnus awake half the night," Heather joked. "Only thing that keeps her asleep is that flute you gave us for the anniversary." Astrid remembered – Hiccup had made a pan flute for Heather, who was a skilled musician, and the music it created was something far superior to the sounds that came out of Gobber's pan flute.

"What'd you call her, again?" Ruffnut asked nearby. Heather rolled her eyes – just like the twins to forget.

"Iona," she replied. The name meant 'island'. It certainly fitted a girl who was being carried around by her mother on dragon-back around the islands from such a young age. "Not a bad name, huh?"

"Dammit! That was one of my ideas," Astrid groaned mockingly. Heather laughed for a bit before clearing her throat and wrapping her scarf tighter around her neck.

"Anyway, what're you doing here?" Snotlout asked. Again, Heather was a girl he'd once taken a liking to – like Astrid, however, she'd rebuked him.

"Is Hiccup around?" Heather asked, seemingly avoiding the question.

"He went flying with Toothless about an hour ago," Astrid explained. "Why?"

"It's Kyra," Heather replied with a hint of concern in her voice. "She's asking for him."

* * *

**AN: Before you ask; no, this isn't the final part of the trilogy - just a short special I'm writing. The final story, ****_How to Twist a Dragon's Tail, _****is still in the works but with any luck should be out some time in the New Year if school work doesn't cause too much of a problem...Hope you guys enjoy this in the meantime!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: A Call for Help**

Hiccup hooted as he raced through the clouds with Toothless. Morning flights like these were what kept him from going insane from all of the chief duties he'd had to help his father with recently. They allowed the young man to clear his head and get away from the chaos that inhabited Berk on a daily basis, not to mention they let him feel like his fourteen year old self once again. Hiccup knew that at eighteen and a half he was now an official adult and as such had responsibilities to take on but he loved to grab the opportunity to feel like that didn't matter whenever he could. Once in the sky, he forgot his previous frustration towards Toothless for waking him up so early in the mornings (especially when he'd been helping his father late into the night) and enjoyed the moment as it lasted. Hiccup couldn't shake the sad feeling that once he became chief, leisurely flights like these would become a rare luxury for him.

"Hard to think that soon flying will be something we do to get jobs done, huh, bud?" Hiccup sighed, remembering how he'd managed to convince his father to get his own dragon (a Thunderdrum named Thornado) so that chief-ing will be made a little easier. Toothless grunted in reply – thanks to an old scratch Kyra gave him years ago, Hiccup was able to understand Dragonese.

"**Still, as long as we get to fly together, right?**" the Night Fury pointed out. Hiccup smiled and nodded his reply. Toothless suddenly froze in midair and his eyes widened, his pupils narrowing into slits.

"Toothless?" Hiccup frowned. "What's wrong?"

"**Windwalker,**" Toothless replied. Windwalker was Kyra's Star Backed Night Fury (a Night Fury with silver-white markings and a sparking forked tail) and Toothless' mate. She'd moved to the Meathead Isles with her rider when Kyra had married Artair Godrikson, the heir to the tribe, last summer but Toothless hadn't minded too much – dragons and their mates often spent extended periods of time apart – so Hiccup was surprised to suddenly hear his friend get anxious about his mate, especially when dragons could keep in contact over large distances via telepathic communication (the stronger the bond between dragons, the further the distance reached). "**I can't hear her...**"

"You think she's okay?" Hiccup wondered.

"**I don't know...ever since we became mates I've always been able to talk to her,**" Toothless explained, his grunts and whines becoming increasingly high-pitched in worry. "**Something's blocking her mindset...**"

"Right," Hiccup noted. "Look – we'll go back to Berk and talk to Dad. I think we need to pay Kyra a visit." With that, he turned the black dragon around and shot back towards his home island, narrowly dodging the torrent of dragons that were heading to the Rookery for Snoggletog. Landing close to the plaza, he wasn't expecting to see Heather of all people there.

"Hiccup! Where have you been?" Astrid snapped as she walked over. "We've been looking everywhere!"

"I _said_ I'd be out flying," Hiccup replied. He turned to face Heather. "Listen, Heather, as much as I'd like to talk, I need to go talk to Dad..."

"Whatever it's about, it's gonna have to wait," Heather interrupted. Before Hiccup could get another word in edgewise she continued. "Kyra sent me." Hiccup paused for a split second – the last time he'd heard from Kyra was merely a week ago where she'd told him she, Artair and their dragons would be visiting Berk to spent the Snoggletog feast with them given that Astrid wasn't allowed to fly whilst pregnant with her baby. What was so obscure that she felt the need to send a messenger to her brother rather than come herself?

"What is it?" Hiccup asked, his frowned deepening.

"It's Windwalker," Heather explained. "She's sick – Kyra doesn't know what's going on." Toothless started next to Hiccup.

"**Windwalker's sick? What's wrong? What's happened?**" he spluttered.

"Could be the reason why you can't get in contact with her," Hiccup grimaced. Toothless shook his head defiantly.

"**Can't be,**" he insisted. "**She came down with some nasty bouts of dragon flu whilst you were gone and we could still communicate fine!**" Hiccup was suddenly, albeit briefly, grateful that he'd been cursed for three years – if Windwalker had come down with dragon flu on more than one occasion that would have been bad news for him seeing as he did not do well with flu and fevers whatsoever.

"Well, I was about to ask Dad if we could go to the Meathead Isles anyway," Hiccup noted to Heather. "So...that's actually pretty convenient."

"Oh," Heather blinked. "Well, that was easy. Let's get going," she instructed, holding Iona close and leaping onto the back of her pink and yellow Monstrous Nightmare, Newtsbreath. Hiccup was about to take off on Toothless again Astrid grabbed his arm.

"Okay, for one – you need to tell your dad that you're going," she pointed out irritably. Hiccup groaned – it was true. He wasn't going to be excused from his chief training without good reason. "And second, you guys had best get ready to pull a boat because I'm coming too."

"Astrid..." Hiccup moaned.

"What?" Astrid raised an eyebrow. "How else am I supposed to get to the Meathead Isles if I'm not allowed to fly for the next six months or so?"

"I was going to say that it might be better for you to..." Hiccup mumbled but Astrid interrupted him again.

"Look, Kyra's my best friend as much as she is your sister, Hatchet-Head," she snapped. "Is there any reason why I shouldn't be allowed to come?" she added, placing her hands on her hips.

"You're gonna come no matter what I say, aren't you?" Hiccup smirked.

"Yep, pretty much."

That ended that.

/\

"Why do we have to do this?" Snotlout moaned from his red and black Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang. He and the rest of the Defenders of Berk, along with Stoick and Thornado, were pulling along the smallest sailboat the Hairy Hooligan tribe had – and even that wasn't every small given that it took the entire team to pull it along if they wanted to get to the Meathead Isles before nightfall.

"Because we need to get to Kyra as fast as we possibly can so the more dragons the better," Hiccup explained for what seemed the hundredth time.

"But we've been going for hours and we're still not even close!" Tuffnut moaned from one of the heads of the Hideous Zippleback he shared with his sister, Barf-Belch.

"We've been going for less than fifteen minutes, you dolt!" Heather snapped. "At the speed we're going at we should get there before sundown." That was saying something given the short daylight hours at this time of the year.

"So this is about Kyra's dragon?" Stoick asked from Thornado.

"Apparently," Hiccup replied. "Toothless was also saying earlier how he can't get into contact with Windwalker."

"She must be in pretty bad shape, then," Fishlegs mumbled worriedly from his Gronkle, Meatlug. "It's not often that dragons are so sick they can't communicate."

"Last time that happened Mildew had brought blue oleanders to Berk," Astrid remembered, shuddering at the memory of how sick the dragons were at the time and the memory of Mildew's butt when they were trying to extract the Scauldron venom from it. She still had nightmares about it. "It's also got to be pretty odd if Kyra doesn't know what's going on." Hiccup knew that Astrid had a point. Valkyra Godrikson, née Horrendous Haddock II, was the human embodiment of the Goddess of Dragons, Lohikäärme, known as the Dragon Shifter. Her powers included being able to turn into any dragon of her choice but her preferred dragon was a Night Fury. If she didn't know what was wrong with Windwalker, something had to be up.

"True," Hiccup nodded when Heather announced that they were nearing the Meathead Isles so Hiccup gave the order to quicken the pace as they raced the last kilometre or so to the docks where a face Hiccup hadn't seen in ages was waiting to greet them.

"Hiccup!" Kyra greeted, her dark auburn hair tumbling over her shoulders wildly as it always did and her mismatched eyes glinting in the evening sunlight. "Guys! You came!" she added, jogging over and hugging her brother and sister-in-law before saying a brief hello to the others. "Thanks for getting him, Heather."

"No worries," Heather smiled. Kyra was her friend as well as her future chief-tess so the task of fetching Hiccup wasn't exactly one Heather was reluctant to do for Kyra. "Hiccup was about to come over anyway."

"Toothless said this morning that he couldn't get into contact with Windwalker," Hiccup explained quickly. Kyra's face turned into a frown.

"Well, Windwalker's been completely out of sorts lately," she frowned, biting her lip. Astrid glanced at her friend's hands – she could just about see small Night Fury scales creeping out from under the long sleeve of the blue woollen winter tunic Kyra was wearing, as they often did when she was anxious. "I don't know what's going on with her."

"And you think I do?" Hiccup grimaced cynically. "Kyra, just because the first dragon I ever trained was a Night Fury doesn't mean I know everything about them – they're pretty much the species we know the _least_ about...!"

"I'm not asking you to figure out what's wrong, Hiccup," Kyra groaned. "I'm just asking for your help. Also having Toothless around might cheer her up." Speaking of Toothless, the Night Fury was getting restless and wouldn't stop moving.

Kyra would only take Hiccup, Astrid and Toothless with her seeing as Windwalker apparently got worse when her sleeping area got too crowded so she asked Heather to sort the others out with sleeping arrangements for the night. Hiccup ignored the scurrying of the Meathead tribe to accommodate their guests, especially Stoick, whilst he followed his sister to her new home. Kyra let her guests in and greeted her husband, Artair Godrikson, as they entered the warm cabin.

"Hiccup," Artair greeted, rising to meet his brother-in-law. The two soon-to-be-chiefs shook hands and Artair politely greeted Astrid before turning to face Hiccup again. "Thank the gods you're here – Windwalker's been keeping everyone up." he paused before glancing a sly look at Kyra – he couldn't help it. "Not that Kyra seems to notice."

"Hey, I can't help having dragon insta-sleep abilities, alright?" she huffed although a playful smirk creeped onto her face. Her face turned serious again. "In all seriousness, though – I'm really worried about her. She won't stop eating, her sleeping patterns are all over the place...she's not like this normally, you know that!" she finished. Astrid frowned. Those symptoms sounded familiar.

"When can we see her?" she asked gently, a theory rapidly forming in her head, when she doubled over in pain as her unborn child kicked her firmly in the stomach again. "OW!"

"How's it going with the little guy?" Artair grimaced. Hiccup winced and helped to support Astrid and Kyra bit her lip.

"The baby – couldn't be better," Astrid moaned sarcastically. "Me – not so good." Hiccup gently patted Astrid's stomach and the kicking seemed to subside. "Cheers, Hiccup. Really – I'm starting to worry that he'll like you more than me," she joked dryly.

"Come on," Hiccup replied in his usual dry-humoured tone. "Have you seen the kids at Dragon Training? They hate my guts." That wasn't true and everyone knew it – the pre-teens back on Berk adored Hiccup and Toothless and hung onto his every word in Dragon Training.

"Do not!" Astrid protested with a weak smile. Kyra couldn't suppress a small giggle.

"Come on through – she's in the back," she explained, leading them through to the back of the house where a less-than-her-usual-self Star Backed Night Fury was lazing in a straw bed. Toothless bounded over and gently nuzzled his mate – Windwalker nudged his nose wearily before she gave out a roar. Kyra rushed over to calm her down but the dragon seemed almost inconsolable. Hiccup took in Windwalker's appearance – she certainly was a lot bigger than she'd been before and she looked exhausted. He was about to walk over when Toothless suddenly growled at him.

"Toothless!" Hiccup cried out as his best friend made a threatening noise. "Buddy, I just need to..."

"Uh...angry dragon alert – I'd say we give him some space," Astrid muttered. Reluctantly, Hiccup backed away, as did Kyra although she now looked more worried than ever.

"Toothless, what's with you?" Hiccup asked nervously.

"**Give her some room! She needs rest!**" the dragon spat. Hiccup took that as their definite cue to leave so the four humans made a hasty exit back into the main house. Once back in the main room, Kyra hung her head in her hands.

"Urgh! I hate not knowing what's going on!" she cried out in exasperation. Artair placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"Maybe Toothless knows what's going on now," he suggested, looking expectantly at Hiccup.

"Yeah, and clearly seems to suddenly not want to have anything to do with me," the young man huffed, crossing his arms and blowing an annoying bang out of his eyes. His hair was getting longer as time went on and it was starting to get in Hiccup's way – he was thinking of a way to remedy it.

"I'm sorry I had to drag you away from Berk for this," Kyra apologised. "I guess you're stuck here now until Toothless calms down at least," she grimaced.

"Don't worry about it," Astrid reassured. "It's not often we get to see you over here – makes a nice change...OUCH!" she yelped. As everyone winced, Kyra mentioned for Astrid to followed her upstairs to sort out sleeping arrangements. Eventually Artair managed to dig out some extra blankets and pillows for the guest bed in the room downstairs at the request of his wife.

* * *

**AN: On a side note to this, I now have a digital painting of Windwalker on my deviantART account if you want to check it out. If there are any other characters from any of my stories that you want to see, just send me a PM and I'll do my best.**

**Link: art/Windwalker-Star-Backed-Night-Fury-417780306**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: There are Exceptions to Every Rule**

Kyra didn't sleep at all well that night and she was usually a deep sleeper who would normally lie in until the sun was at its highest point in the sky if she could help it. But now she was worried sick about her dragon – the dragon that had chosen her on the day she'd officially come back to Berk on her fifteenth birthday. Kyra and Windwalker were almost as close as Hiccup and Toothless so whenever something was wrong with Windwalker, Kyra always got into a fluster over her (and vice versa).

"What Dragon Shifter can't figure out what's wrong with her own dragon?" she huffed to herself. She hadn't been able to talk to Windwalker telepathically for a while now unless she was right next to her and the Star Backed Night Fury had been more than demanding her own space lately – Toothless had been the only one she'd let near her in the past week and a half. Too worried to even try to sleep anymore, Kyra swung herself out of bed and went downstairs to tend the fire that kept the house warm. Topping it up slightly with a small burst of Deadly Nadder flame, Kyra slowly warmed herself up when she heard footsteps behind her. It was Hiccup.

"You're up early," he commented as his sister's mismatched eyes met his own. Hiccup was used to seeing his sister's left eye by now – the day before her fifteenth birthday Berk had been attacked by the Outcasts and Alvin the Treacherous had attempted to kidnap Kyra. Hiccup and Astrid had gone to save her but Hiccup ended up falling off a bridge – to rescue him, Kyra had transformed into a Star-Backed Night Fury but Alvin had had the last laugh when he fired a crossbow arrow into her left eye, damaging it beyond repair. To remedy this, her dragon healing abilities kicked in and replaced the destroyed human eye with a bright green Night Fury one. Although it was creepy to look at to start with, people had learned to get used to it. It was when both eyes turned dragon-like that people had to worry about Kyra.

"I could say the same thing about you," Kyra remarked as her brother joined her by the fireplace.

"Well, you know how Toothless refuses to acknowledge such things as a lie-in except when it suits him," Hiccup replied with a hint of sadness behind his dry-humoured tone. Kyra patted his hand – she knew that it hurt Hiccup that his best friend had suddenly rebuked him the previous day. Silence often spoke louder than words between the two siblings despite having spent twelve years apart.

"I just wish they'd tell me what was going on," she sighed. "I hate not knowing."

"Hey, it's not like everyone tells each other about their problems," Hiccup comforted. "You're still human – this might be a strictly 'dragon' thing." Kyra forced a smile. She knew that even as the Dragon Shifter there were boundaries in the dragon world that she had to be careful with. She couldn't help but wish, though.

"You're right," she nodded. Her gaze drifted to the stairs – her sharper-than-normal hearing picked up the gentle snores of Artair from upstairs. "I don't know why I worried about this whole marriage thing, really," she admitted shyly.

"Told you it'd be okay," Hiccup grinned, blowing a lock of messy auburn hair out of his eyes again. Before Kyra could threaten him with a comb he continued. "I mean, it's kinda weird living under the same roof as Astrid twenty-four-seven now but...it's nice," he admitted awkwardly. "I think I can take this." Kyra couldn't stop a small breath of laughter escaping her nose.

"And to think this time next month you'll have another Haddock in the household," she smiled, looking forward greatly to the arrival of her niece/nephew. "You'll be a great father, I can tell."

"You have to say that – you're gonna be the doting aunt," Hiccup joked. Kyra laughed her silver bell laugh and it was as she sat upright on her stool and threw her head backwards, sending her auburn locks tumbling over her back, that Hiccup noticed something. Kyra was dressed in a simple brown under-tunic held around her waist with a black leather belt. But it wasn't the tunic or the belt itself that had caught Hiccup's attention – it was the shape the belt made around Kyra's midsection. Kyra noticed that her brother had fallen silent.

"What's up?" she asked, gasping for breath after her fit of laughter. "Did I get stew down my tunic or something?"

"How come you didn't tell us?" Hiccup asked, a grin creeping onto his face as he indicated Kyra's stomach. Her hands flew down to cover it and she flushed red.

"That was _supposed_ to wait till we came over to yours!" she whined. Hiccup couldn't stop smiling. His sister was also expecting a child. True, she wasn't as heavily pregnant as Astrid (in fact, far less so – she couldn't have been more than a few months or so on) but it was clear to see it now that she wasn't buried in winter furs.

"Kyra, that's amazing" he beamed. "Congratulations!" Kyra sighed.

"You can't tell anyone – it's supposed to be a surprise," she requested. Hiccup made a motion of zipping his mouth shut. At that moment, Artair and Astrid joined them downstairs so Kyra began getting some porridge ready. Astrid had a massive portion to feed herself and her baby, Hiccup had a relatively small bowl and Artair and Kyra split the rest equally between them. They were just about finished tucking in when Toothless came plodding into the dining room.

"Morning, bud," Hiccup greeted, trying not to show any hurt in his voice after what had happened yesterday. It failed.

"**I'm sorry, Hiccup,**" Toothless whimpered, placing his nose on Hiccup's lap. "**I shouldn't have done that – I didn't mean to hurt you.**" Hiccup smiled and scratched Toothless behind the ear.

"I know, buddy, I know," he smiled. The calm of the moment was broken as a resounding shriek came from the back room and Kyra immediately dropped her porridge to investigate. The others followed to see Windwalker convulsing violently on her bed of straw. Kyra was trying her best to calm her down and Toothless, once again, would not allow Hiccup or Artair close to her. Astrid on the other hand ran straight past the Night Fury to aid her friend.

"Easy! Easy, girl!" she yelped, narrowly avoiding being singed by a small blast of blue fire from the dragon. Astrid's hand found its way to Windwalker's abdomen where she felt around for a while. After a few seconds, her suspicions were confirmed.

Change in sleeping habits, changes in eating habits, sickness occurring every now and then and the bursts of pain that came from the stomach. There was no other explanation.

"Hiccup, Artair, Toothless, out," she ordered. She repeated the instruction when she received nothing but confused faces in response. Kyra stared at her for a moment before Astrid indicated her own bulging stomach – she hadn't been putting on weight there just because she'd been eating too much. In the end Toothless forced both guys out of the back room and upstairs whilst Astrid and Kyra were left with the shrieking Star Backed Night Fury.

/\

"How comes _we_ have to get stuck outside _in the middle of a Thor-damn snowstorm_?" Artair grumbled, his teeth chattering violently. Hiccup seconded his brother-in-law's feelings – snow was falling rather heavily outside and Toothless wasn't doing much to keep the guys warm. He envied the others who would likely still be inside and most probably having a lie in, something he hadn't had the luxury of in a while thanks to Toothless. Speaking of whom...

"Buddy, why is it that you won't let me near Windwalker?" Hiccup asked. Toothless' bright green eyes met his.

"**Sorry,**" he whimpered. "**Dragon instinct I guess...**"

"And yet you allowed Astrid and Kyra near her?" Artair pointed out grumpily, not knowing what the Night Fury had said. Toothless growled a reply which Hiccup translated, although the reply itself was confusing.

"He said 'you'd only trust girls to go near your mate if she was in this position'," he frowned. "What the heck's that supposed to mean?" he asked. Toothless was about to reply when Astrid poked her head out of the door, her hair in more of a mess than it was half an hour ago and her face bright red and not from the heat of the fire indoors.

"You need to come see this," she panted, letting the guys back in. Hiccup noticed how flustered and amazed Astrid looked – he hadn't seen her like this since they'd both been saved from death-by-drowning over a year ago by the God of Spirits, Ivor – the brother of the Goddess of Dragons.

"This had better be good..." Artair moaned, noticing that Kyra hadn't emerged. He sat by the fire to warm up a little bit but Astrid half dragged Hiccup through to the back room where the most miraculous sight he'd ever seen lay before his eyes.

Windwalker had now reverted to her original size and Kyra was by her side, her face glistening with tears. Windwalker's eyes had narrowed to a caring adoration and she cooed gently ever now and then with replies of tiny squeaks and gurgles following shortly afterwards. Hiccup soon saw why – cradled in Kyra's arms was a tiny dragon, its scales jet black with small specks of silver-white decorating its hide. Its eyes were the size of saucers and a stunning turquoise colour with pupils almost filling the irises.

Hiccup knew that he was looking at a new-born baby Night Fury.

"Oh, my gods!" he breathed in amazement, slowly walking over – this time, the dragon had no qualms about him approaching. Carefully, he knelt beside his sister who was beaming with joy and gently placed a hand on the baby dragon's nose. The baby licked his hand playfully. "Ha-ha!" Hiccup laughed as he tickled the hatchling. "Toothless! Guess who's just become a dad?" he called. Toothless plodded into the room and his eyes widened with what could only be described as pride when he saw the baby dragon, who wormed its way out of Kyra's arms to meet its father.

Astrid smiled, her cheeks aching from grinning so much. The baby Night Fury was possibly the most adorable thing she'd ever seen in her life. It was about twice the size of a baby Deadly Nadder and had an air about it that made your heart melt when you saw the thing. Such was the case with Artair when he finally came in.

"Whoa..." he gasped with the same feeling of amazement as when Kyra had first introduced him to Windwalker. "That's..."

"So she wasn't ill, then?" Hiccup joked. Kyra giggled softly and shook her head.

"It's amazing – I never would've guessed," she smiled.

"Guessed what?" Artair asked, diverting his attention back from scratching the hatchling under the chin, who proceeded to flop contentedly to the floor. Astrid stepped in.

"Apparently Night Furies are the only dragons to give birth to live young," she explained. Hiccup was astonished – he'd thought that only mammals gave birth to live young. "Well, there are exceptions to every rule," Astrid shrugged when her husband voiced this out loud. "I mean, not every Hero is a burly Viking," she pointed out. Hiccup couldn't help but smile with a small amount of pride in his wife's words.

"Incredible," he remarked, watching Toothless and Windwalker fawn over their little one.

"She's the first baby Night Fury in decades," Kyra explained quickly. "Windwalker was just telling me." Astrid was surprised – she hadn't known that Night Furies were such endangered species. "This is more than a wonderful moment for them."

"It's a wonderful moment for everyone," Artair smiled as the baby dragon licked his face.

"She likes you," Kyra joked.

"Clearly," Artair spluttered, still grinning through the dragon slobber that was being plastered to his face. Everyone present laughed – this had to be the best early Snoggletog gift ever. A new addition to the Haddock-Godrikson family.

"So, what should we call her?" Astrid asked, folding her arms over her own bulging stomach.

"How about we let the parents decide?" Hiccup smirked, glancing at Toothless who surprisingly gave his a sarcastic look, narrowing his eyes.

"**You think us dragons are the best at names? C'mon! Even Windwalker didn't have a name until Kyra showed up!**" he pointed out.

"Just saying – she's your kid," Hiccup defended himself, putting his hands up.

"**And I'm saying that we suck with names, hence why we don't normally use them,**" Toothless retorted. "**As my best friend, I'm giving ****_you_**** the honour of naming my daughter,**" he insisted, grinning his trademark gummy smile.

"You serious?" Hiccup blinked. Upon seeing everyone's confused faces, he translated the sentence.

"Wow," Astrid breathed. "So – any ideas...OW!" she yelped. "Quit nudging, will ya?" she groaned.

"Well, I won't choose any of the ideas for our kid," Hiccup decided, wincing as Astrid leant on the door frame to support herself. His attention went back to the baby Night Fury who'd recovered from her blissful stupor and had crawled over to him. He took her into his arms and gently scratched her behind the ears – you couldn't help but love her. Hiccup's attention was drawn to the speckled scales of silver-white. Against the black of the rest of the baby's scales, they looked like stars glittering in the night sky.

Hiccup settled on a name.

"How about Starlight?" he suggested. Toothless and Windwalker cooed their approval and Kyra smiled – the name suited the young dragon to a tee.

"It's perfect," she said softly.

/\

As soon as the snowfall passed the rest of the team and Stoick had been able to welcome the new addition to the Night Fury family. As with the Haddocks and Godriksons, none of them had been able to not fall in love with the little dragon whose large turquoise eyes almost took up half of her head. Toothless had refused to leave his baby behind so Kyra decided to let both Windwalker and Starlight to accompany Toothless and the others back to Berk so that the family could grow up together – there was nothing stopping the Dragon Shifter from visiting her dragon after all and once Starlight was old enough to fend for herself Windwalker could always return to the Meathead Isles.

"She truly is remarkable," Stoick smiled kindly as he met the young Night Fury. "A welcome addition to the family."

"Are you guys sure there's gonna be enough room in the house for _two_ grown Night Furies plus the kid?" Snotlout asked dubiously. Hiccup thought for a second.

"Fairly sure – if not, I'll get an extension sorted," he replied simply. Astrid rolled her eyes – Hiccup and his projects. He always put the comfort and needs of others before himself – that was why he often stayed up so late helping his dad, because he didn't have the heart to leave all of the work to the aging chief.

The gang set off back to Berk the same day, this time with two other Night Furies in tow.

* * *

**AN: Pretty sure you guys saw this coming :) So, the family is growing left, right and centre but we're not done yet! There's still one more chapter left of this short story to go.**

**I don't think it would be too far of a stretch for Night Furies to give birth to live young - after all, there are quite a few exceptions in the natural world to the 'mammals give birth to live young' rule, the platypus being one of them and the echidna is another (they are both mammals that lay eggs) so why not have an exception to the 'reptiles lay eggs' rule? Either way, I'm fairly sure I'm not the only one who wants to see a baby Night Fury - if the other baby dragons were cute and Toothless (a GROWN Night Fury) is cute enough, baby Night Furies would be too adorable to put into words.**

**Check in next week for the final chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: ARGH! This was supposed to have been posted yesterday! I couldn't log onto my profile to upload anything due to site maintenance, unfortunately...anyway, day-late Snoggletog gift for you guys! Sorry...**

**Chapter Four: The Aftermath**

Snoggletog came and went and everyone on Berk could easily agree that it had been one of the best holidays yet. True, some Vikings were still missing their dragons given that some had gone off to the Rookery that year, but they were satisfied in the knowledge that they would return soon with their own new families in tow.

Stoick had also officially announced that he would remain chief until Hiccup reached the age of twenty in just under two years time. During his speech, he mentioned how much confidence he had that his son would continue to lead the tribe as a strong chief and begin a new legacy in what he'd discovered throughout his life, knowing that he could bring the island into an era of peace. Hiccup had visibly glowed with pride even in the orange light of the fires that lit the Great Hall and Astrid couldn't have been prouder of her husband – after all of the stick he'd taken throughout his life and all he'd done to prove himself, he deserved to hear the words that came from his father's mouth that evening.

During their visit, Kyra and Artair officially announced that they were expecting their first child, receiving a great deal of congratulations from the Hairy Hooligans who were overjoyed that both of the Haddock siblings were about to start families of their own and continue their family line. For reasons unknown to everyone, including Hiccup, Kyra seemed certain that she was going to have a girl despite the constant wishes from others for her to have a son.

"To be fair, I don't really mind as long as they're healthy," she shrugged when Hiccup asked her about this. "I'm just hoping they don't inherit this," she noted, pointing at her dragon left eye.

"Something tells me the kid will have your eyes," Artair teased. Kyra gave her husband a playful shove.

"Whatever – I'm hoping she's got your hair," she joked, ruffling Artair's jet black mop. Hiccup and Astrid laughed with them. "What about you two? Any idea what the kid will look like?"

"Who knows?" Hiccup shrugged.

"Personally I'm hoping he has Hiccup's eyes," Astrid admitted. Hiccup glanced at her. "What? I'm a sucker for green eyes."

"I'm still hoping he gets your social skills," Hiccup noted in his usual dry humoured tone.

"OUCH!"

"Nudged!" the twins chorused from the other side of the hall. Astrid glared at them in reply – if looks could kill, Ruffnut and Tuffnut would have been six feet under at least ten times already. Hiccup decided to cheer her up. A waltz had just struck up and it had been a while since the soon-to-be chief and his wife had been on the dance floor.

"May I have this dance, milady?" he asked with his trademark smile creeping onto his face as he bowed and offered his hand to Astrid, whose face automatically lit up.

"Sure, you may," she grinned, accepting the offer and letting Hiccup lead her to the dance floor where her mind drifted away from the baby growing inside her. This time next month, it would officially be part of the family. Until then, Astrid decided to enjoy having Hiccup to herself as the couple twirled and glided across the dance floor.

_Snoggletog on Berk can often bring unexpected surprises, but no matter what the holiday throws at us we always find a way to make something good out of it. When we first heard that Windwalker was sick, we never would have guessed that she would bring such a beautiful little light into our lives – and now we have even more little surprises to wait for._

_We anticipate many surprises in life and sometimes we can even guess what they're gonna bring. But it's the surprises we don't guess – the ones that we allow to remain surprises – that bring the best joy in the world._

_And that is the best gift that any family could ever wish for._

**The End – Happy Snoggletog!**


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